The Los Angeles Lakers are intent on continually searching for talent to help them contend for a championship, and general manager Rob Pelinka recently revealed his openness to trade multiple draft picks for a player that can help them in that regard.
Lakers GM Rob Pelinka will trade multiple draft picks to upgrade their roster
At his pre-training camp press conference, Pelinka had this to say about his willingness to cough up draft stock, specifically their first-round picks from 2029 and 2031 for an impact piece, as Lakersnation.com relayed:
“I think the philosophy that JJ and I are aligned on is we want to build sustainable Lakers excellence,” Pelinka said.
“So the direct answer to your question is yes, we would do a trade with both picks if that will lead to sustainable Lakers excellence. We would also use one pick to make a marginal upgrade if we felt like it was the right thing to do. We looked long and hard and did a lot of work at seeing if there were ways to increase the overall roster talent this offseason and the right move didn’t present itself.”
Lakers have to balance their championship push with their future after LeBron James
Outside of the two picks in question, the Lakers only have two second-round picks in 2025 and one in 2027 but have one first-rounder in 2026 as well as 2028 and 2030. Los Angeles is in a tricky situation where they still have a window to capture a championship with LeBron James, 39, and Anthony Davis, 31, leading their charge.
However, James won’t be playing at the All-NBA level he’s performing at forever, even if he’s defying the odds year after year. Additionally, Davis’ injury history will always be in the back of the Lakers’ minds despite his MVP-caliber play.
L.A. has an abundance of talent around the two, including D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, Christian Wood, and Rui Hachimura to name a few. They are anything but bereft of scoring, playmaking, and size, but could use some more oomph on defense. Nevertheless, should James elect to retire within the next couple of seasons, their title outlook will immediately deteriorate, especially since their 47 wins couldn’t get them any higher than the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference last season.
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All in all, Pelinka has put together a championship team before in 2020 and knows what it takes to do so once more. The fact that he couldn’t find a player that could marginally upgrade their roster in exchange for one pick goes to show where he may be leaning toward in terms of adding a third star to their mix next to James and Davis.
A player like James only comes around once in a generation, so going all in to win with him at their helm is optimal. Pelinka and the Lakers will just have to accept the downside to that equation should he call it a career soon. The bright side to their glass being half empty is that they have other talents they can parlay in ensuing trades to get some draft stock back should a rebuild need to take place.
